Amber's New Job

When Jake and I met five years ago, our first "date" was lunch in the dining center at Bethel. Like many first conversations, it included lots of basic get-to-know-you questions back and forth to each other. As the conversation progressed, Jake asked me what my dream job would be. Immediately, I responded and said, "I've always wanted to be a mom. That's my dream. I would love to be at home with my kids someday." I'll admit, I was a bit nervous telling him that, but to my delight, Jake smiled and told me that he loved that my dream was to be a stay at home mom.

Since then, it became a dream for both of us for me to be able to stay at home with our kids someday. But we knew that we wanted to wait to have kids for a few years after we were married, and I knew that I also wanted to have some kind of a career before then. This past January when we found out we were pregnant, we talked again about what my decision would be. You see, I thought this would be an easy black and white decision as we had talked about years before, but in October 2009 I was blessed with a job working as an Event Planner for Feed My Starving Children, a Christian non-profit hunger relief organization. And I absolutely LOVE my job. My boss is amazing, and I've developed some close relationships with my wonderful co-workers. We prayed and prayed about what to do, because giving up such an awesome job would be hard to do, not knowing if I'd ever be able to find something that was such a perfect fit for me again. 

As we got closer to my due date, we both felt that God had given us a lot of affirmation that the right decision for our family was for me to stay at home, but we wanted to wait until Baylen was born to make our final decision. FMSC was so wonderful about supporting me in my decision making process, and told me to take my time, which I was incredibly grateful for. 

So here we are, about a month after Baylen was born. After being at home with my bundle of joy, I am confident that I want to spend my days at home, watching him grow and raising him. Jake has been incredibly supportive of my decision. A few days ago he said, "Amber I really want to make the dream you shared with me five years ago come true." This melted my heart, and I am thankful that we are able to make this happen. Sure, we'll have to give up some of the "extras" that we're used to having, but I am willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to spend time with our little guy. 

On Wednesday, I met with my boss and officially turned in my letter of resignation. It was a tough and emotional conversation, but she was again, so supportive and understanding. On a side note, if any of you are looking for a solid non-profit to support, please keep Feed My Starving Children in your thoughts. Truly, they are amazing. 

So here I am, looking forward to my new job as mom and homemaker. There is a huge learning curve with this new job, and I'm excited to lean on God's grace and start to figure it all out. God is so good for giving me the desire of my heart!

Have a great weekend!

Love,

Amber